Esoteric psychology refers to the study of mysticism, i.e., the various mystical traditions, such as Yoga, Hermetics, Sufism, and the Cabbala. While it is not exactly a science in the tradition of the scientific world, it constitutes a process of investigation and involves a discipline of discernment, in contrast to blind faith. The major proponents of esoteric psychology were Alice Bailey and Douglas Baker. Both made extensive reference to Helena P. Blavatsky’s book, “The Secret Doctrine.”[1] The closest link to esoteric psychology is the Analytical Psychology of Carl Jung, a pioneer in relating the present man to his ancestors.[2]
Human Reflection
Most humans have the presumptuous view that they are the most evolved species on earth. What does it take to be human? What does a human being have as a distinctive competence among all other species?
Humans have emotions and enormous capacity to love? That’s instinct. Every mother bird, ant, tiger, monkey or whale is capable of rearing their young until the “child” becomes capable on its own. Animals too know when its time for mating. The bees do it; the birds do it. They simply follow the patterns, that is, the season for mating and pro-creation of their own species, like we do in our own.
Humans have capacity for sophisticated technology? Humans have the Internet, utilizing the laws that govern deeper realms of matter, such as plasma and its interaction with the ionosphere. But a bee can spot his queen several kilometers away through sounds humans can’t hear; so does a whale communicate with its mate across several fathoms of ocean. The birds, in tune with nature, know when it is time to migrate. Humans can build pyramids, terraces and huge structures. But so can a spider weave intricate designs, while the caterpillar encloses itself in a cocoon to eventually emerge as the butterfly. Humans may perform cloning; but an earthworm can be simply cut to reproduce itself, while a silkworm can produce its own thread.
So, what is distinctively human?
It is the ability to reflect on his or her actions and create. A human being can do things differently and improve on its behavior. It can also transcend and look beyond its present circumstance. That transcendence enables it to think in terms of a past, present and future and in terms of generations. A human being can “tune in” with its hearts. In contrast, almost all other species do things over and over again in what is considered the limitations of their natural state.
Being human is a gift. It meant reflecting on and partaking in the world of creation and of discovering one’s purpose. It is like figuring out why a caterpillar metamorphoses to a butterfly. Each creature, big or small, is a stupendous natural art work that only a silent intelligence could create as part of a grand design. Humans have the capacity to see through that design with the mind and partake of a unified Life, through the heart.
Bodies of Man
In the 1930s, Jung made extensive studies on the “Eastern tradition” which became a cornerstone of his works. In his book, Jung explains that a person is composed of a personality, an ego and a self.
Obviously, the human being has a physical body subject to physical and chemical laws. He also feels and thinks, he has emotions and a mind, respectively, which are explained in biochemistry as the interplay of the hormonal secretions and the various forms of neuro-transmitters, coordinated by the brain. These three elements make up the “matter” of the personality, considered (in esoteric psychology) to belong to the three “bodies” of the person that interpenetrate and are locked up in a distinct DNA pattern.
The personality is the product and vehicle of its ancestral history. Modern man has been shaped and molded into the present form by accumulative experiences of past generations extending far back into the dim and obscure beginning of humans. It may be described as the sum total of all the accumulated wealth of experiences of the human being as he goes through life. It may also refer to what separate him from others, as his composite nature observed in the way he behaves, speaks, walk, acts, thinks, responds to situations, all his acquired habits and idiosyncrasies.
When does the personality begin?
The orthodox view posits that the personality is shaped from the onset of birth, with the critical influence of the significant others – the parents, peers and the general environment. This view is an offshoot of the theory that the human being evolved from lower forms, such as the monkeys and ape and held that culture and civilization must guide the process of acculturation of the “instinctive” man towards being a cultured species.
However, the emerging view is that in the process of evolution, the human species have already acquired traits that are beyond animal forms – higher feelings, mental capacities and intuition and reflection. The personality is thus, already apparent at the time of conception, with the human characteristics already in the human genome. These foundations of the human being become recognizable on the third month, when the embryo acquires the liver and pancreas and heredity takes over.
Personality, Soul and Spirit
In Esoteric Psychology, a human being is a composite of three major aspects, the personality, soul and spirit-self. Depending on his degree of development or growth in consciousness, a person would be limited by his view of the world. But all aspects of oneself are present in him, just waiting to be remembered.
The personality, the main vehicle of an individual in the 3rd dimension, is formed out of material from the physical, emotional and mental planes, organized according to the primordial atom and DNA code, carrying unique behavioral trait and further molded by interactions with the environment.
Spirit
Soul
|
|
V
Personality
Lower Mental
Emotional (Astral)
Physical – Etheric and Gross Physical
The soul may be described as the totality of the moments of self-consciousness of a person as he continues to live. These include the aspirations, ideals and potentials accumulated in this lifetime or in previous lifetimes, which are imprinted into what is termed as causal body. The soul draws matter from the higher mental plane (arupa manas or abstract mind) and the next two higher planes, the fourth plane of intuition and the fifth plane of atma or will. The causal body, which is composed of matter from the higher mental (arupa) plane, is the vehicle for the soul, in the same manner that the physical body is the vehicle and the outward manifestation of the personality. The term causal is used to distinguish it from effect, i.e., the physical manifestation of the essence.
Spirit
|
|
V
Soul
Will (Atmic or Monadic)
Intuition (Buddhic)
Mental (Abstract) – Causal Body
|
|
V
Personality
The Spirit-self refers to the divine nature of man shared with all creations. It is the monad or “spark of life,” which carries the basic attributes of God, as all-powerful (Father), loving (Son) and knowing (Holy Spirit). It is that which is immutable and indwells in the personality and soul of man, which by this token, partakes in time and space.
Spirit-Self
Will-PowerLove-WisdomActive Intelligence (Knowingness)||V
Soul
Personality
The Spirit-self is said to draw matter from the higher planes of the seventh (Adi or Pure Spirit), sixth (monadic or Concrete Spirit) and fifth (Atmic or Will Manifestation) planes. It resides and has its manifestation in the fifth plane, which is also its connection to the soul, the tri-fold atma-buddhi-manas (will-intuition-mind). One of the mysteries of life is that the divinity manifests in physical matter, gives it life, then forever recedes and serves as the guide, the way forward. It reflects the process of the tri-fold manifestation of the spark of life, the unit of consciousness or monadic essence, in the world of creation and in the human being, as a creature in its image.
From: http://www.selftransform.net/CSTLOGOwebMain.jpg
[1] Alice Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, 1951; The Destiny of the Nations, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, 1990; and A Treatise on White Magic, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, 1991; Douglas Baker, The Seven Rays, Key to the Mysteries, Aquarian Press, Northamptonshire, 1977
[2] Carl Jung, Analytical Psychology: its Theory and Practice, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London New York
No comments:
Post a Comment